I’ll freely admit I’ve always been partial to love themes from movie soundtracks. Especially if they came out in the 80s, when there were plenty of synthesizers to give it that 80s feel. So today, we’re creating a track like that for the third Thirteenth Hour book for a scene when our two main protagonists, Logan and Aurora, are reunited after a long time spent looking for each other, not knowing if their true love was even still alive. I wanted it to be a mix between some more traditional sounds (mostly) to evoke tender longing and just enough synth to fit in the rest of the soundtrack.

It’s called “Because We May Only Have One Night,” and while this one is mainly instrumental, I think I may add some vocals for a separate song later or do a reprise which takes some of the elements of this melody, such as the chord progression (G Em C D) or the main riff and intersperses it for later introspective scenes. That’s the great thing about making soundtracks! You can rest assured that if you have one melody you like, you can dress it up and change a few things here or there and use it for a new piece somewhere else, kind of like using the leftovers of Sunday’s dinner for Monday’s lunch!

Today’s track was done all on the synthesizer with a small vocal part (whistling) added to the intro. It was mixed on the synth and in Audacity. Look for it in the near future on bandcamp. You can hear the demo version at the end of the show.

Here are the original tracks embedded in the page for your playing convenience:

Speaking of which, Chad has a sequel just out – Fortune Favors the Bold 2! More Scissorwulf! Like the last volume and the Choose Your Own Adventure books that inspired it, it comes with black and white line illustrations that Chad drew to complete the experience. Click on the cover below to check it out on Amazon.

Lastly, Missy Sheldrake, who was on the show this past summer, is also releasing a book in the near future – just a few days from when this episode will be out. As with her previous volumes, this one is richly illustrated. Click on the book spotlight below to get a copy of your own, and check out her social media links following the illustrations as well as the following book excerpts (one and two).

The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.

Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Not long after author Chad Derdowski came on the show this summer (hear parts 1 and 2 here), talking about his brilliantly humorous … oh, how shall we say, R-rated Choose-Your- Own-Adventure-style book, Fortune Favors the Bold, I wondered what a soundtrack to the book might sound like. Something out of an 80s movie, I thought, like Ladyhawke or Legend. And then, the muse struck. Of course, it was in an inconvenient place (in the shower), but as soon as I could, I found a keyboard and tapped out the little theme that formed the backbone of these two tracks.

I got Chad’s input and okay to proceed, then went to town. He didn’t put me up to this or anything, and I didn’t want him to think I was trying to steal his creations … I guess in the tradition of fanfiction, you could call this “fanmusic?” =) Anyway, I talk more about the creation of the tracks, called “Gleam of the Widowmaker” and “One Adventures Ends, Another Begins” on the episode and read a few choice bits from the book which inspired the tracks, which you can listen to below or by clicking on the song titles above.

The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.

Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Today, we’re doing a short reading from The Thirteenth Hour accompanied by a corresponding part from Long Ago Not So Far Away, the soundtrack written for the book. “The Imperial Ranger March,” which is playing in the background, can be heard on the podcast here , where there is more info about the track. You can also find it on Bandcamp. There is also a short video you can see on IG.

I used the same theme in a little short video to showcase the throwing of a large sheath knife that reminded of the similarly large sheath knife the Imperial Rangers were issued to clear brush and chop wood:

The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.

Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Today, we’re going to make a music track for one of the Thirteenth Hour book sequels with a combination of digital and analog technology. It goes with a part of the story where Aurora, one of the main characters, is just starting to discover that she has the ability to generate magic herself – something that is surprising, wonderful, exciting, and a bit confusing all at the same time. I was trying to capture that feeling in the music.

I’m using a app called Auxy to make the backing track and adding in a few electric guitar parts as accents. The track was 95% done prior to adding the guitars, and best of all, I did it all in the palm of my hand when I was doing something else (in this case trying to get my son to sleep by bouncing on a exercise ball – that works wonders, by the way).

I made a previous track with Auxy, “Flight of the Cloudrider” (listen here) or check out the link to the EP and music video below. You can learn more about Auxy, download a copy to your phone (only iOS so far, I believe – my error on the show), and Henrik Lenberg, the creator of the program, by clicking on the highlighted links.

Here is a youtube tutorial that shows a little about how to use the program:

The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.

Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Today, we’re finish the track we started in episode #112. As mentioned, it’s a short atmospheric piece to accompany the third Thirteenth Hour book and centers around Aurora, who has assumed the part time role of someone called “The Midnight Phoenix,” a name generated by the local papers from the legends of old after she unwittingly saves a man while on a brooding nighttime walk above the city’s skyline. This is not a particularly happy time in her time, and her one real solace is playing a magic lute on the rooftop outside her window, high above the city, allowing her to see the sea, the horizon over which her home lies, and even if she can’t get back there, see an exit to her current trapped state.

Today. we’re finishing the backing track and adding the guitar part in. In the future, I’ll finish the accompanying artwork, which will likely show her up on a rooftop (Batman style), silhouetted against the sky.

The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.

Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Like last week, today, we’re going to create more music together. In order to finish the piece we started last week, I needed to finish some backlogged music projects that I have had sitting around first. My synthesizer only allows you to store two songs at a time, so this is one of them. Like last week, it’s a mostly atmospheric piece to accompany the third Thirteenth Hour book and centers around Aurora, who has assumed the part time role of someone called “The Midnight Phoenix.” At this part of the story (at least according to the rough outline I have envisioned), things get a little out of control, and part of the city she now finds herself in is destroyed. She is standing on top of a tall building overlooking the city and the smoldering ruins. As she does so, this theme plays in the background. Like the tune last week, it’s intended to be slow and a bit mournful.

Today, we’ll be combining the synthesizer backing track that I’ve had in the can for a number of weeks with a guitar part that I recorded more recently. There is a post on IG that shows some video of the guitar part in the draft stage. At the end of the podcast, you’ll hear the more or less finished version.

The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.

Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Today, we’re going to create some music together. It’s a short atmospheric piece to accompany the third Thirteenth Hour book and centers around Aurora, who has assumed the part time role of someone called “The Midnight Phoenix,” a name generated by the local papers from the legends of old after she unwittingly saves a man while on a brooding nighttime walk above the city’s skyline.

At this point, she is supposed to be learning magic, which she can’t really do or control, and she misses the home she created, far away across the Western sea, on her island with her husband Logan. She supposed to learn magic since her family essentially needs another set of hands to defend against a new mysterious threat. But all she can really do is make flaming blue fire when she gets stressed or angry.

Here is Aurora doing a meditative exercise to try to help herself control her fire making ability rather let it engulf her (what usually happens, making her kind of a danger to herself and others around her).

Her one real solace is playing a magic lute on the rooftop outside her window, high above the city, allowing her to see the sea, the horizon over which her home lies, and even if she can’t get back there, see an exit to her current trapped state.

I was inspired by the rooftop guitar solo scene from the movie The Crow when thinking of this scene:

You can find the track as “Inferno” on The Crow score by Graeme Revell.

My favorite part of that track was always the slow, melodic intro part, so I was channeling that in marking today’s track. To be continued in a future episode!

The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.

Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.